Peacemaker season 2 simply ended on an enormous cliffhanger that might have large ramifications on the way forward for the DC Universe. We nonetheless do not know if the sequence will get a 3rd season, however showrunner James Gunn has confirmed that it’s going to additionally function a direct lead-in in Man of Tomorrow (the Superman not-a-sequel follow-up that he is additionally writing and directing). With that in thoughts, one explicit element from the Peacemaker season 2 finale may very well be the important thing to understanding Man of Tomorrow and its mysterious villain.
Intrigued? Let’s dive in.
Full spoilers under for the top of Peacemaker season 2.
Peacemaker season 2 ending defined
The finale of Peacemaker season 2 begins with ARGUS, led by Rick Flag (Frank Grillo), exploring the multiversal doorway that Chris Smith/Peacemaker (John Cena) handed over on the finish of the earlier episode. It is unclear what they’re in search of, till they discover it: a liveable planet the place Flag can banish all of Earth’s metahumans. He names this planet Salvation, with plans to make use of it as a large, inescapable jail.
On the very finish of the episode, ARGUS kidnaps Chris and shoves him by way of the doorway into Salvation. Rick reveals that Peacemaker shall be his take a look at topic to verify Salvation is definitely liveable (he isn’t a complete monster, apparently) and the doorway disappears behind him, trapping Chris on their lonesome on an alien planet in one other dimension. Then, we hear a cacophony of roars that type of sound like a bunch of offscreen dinosaurs about to devour Chris. Roll credit.
So what does it imply? To grasp, it is price wanting into DC comics historical past, particularly, the story of Salvation Run.
Salvation Run and Peacemaker
Printed in 2007-2008 throughout DC’s Last Disaster crossover occasion, Salvation Run was a seven-issue restricted sequence impressed by an thought from George R.R. Martin. It was written by Invoice Willingham and Lilah Sturges, with artwork by Sean Chen, Walden Wong, Joe Bennett, and Belardino Brabo.
The essential premise of the comedian was that the Suicide Squad (led by Amanda Waller) captured a bunch of supervillains and banished them to a distant planet known as Salvation. The listing of imprisoned villains included Lex Luthor, the Joker, Killer Croc, Bane, Deadshot, Gorilla Grodd, Hugo Unusual, Clayface, Mister Freeze, Poison Ivy, Hyena, and dozens extra. Waller additionally threw in some morally ambiguous characters, like Catwoman, for good measure.
The thought was to let the villains combat it out and die, however there was a twist. Seems, Salvation was really a “coaching planet” for the New Gods of Apokolips, aka, the hellish planet dominated by Darkseid. Even worse, Salvation was below the authority of certainly one of Darkseid’s most annoying followers: DeSaad.
DeSaad and the Man of Tomorrow
Within the comics, DeSaad serves a really particular function: he is Darkseid torture man. DeSaad can be a genius who loves inventing new methods to torture his victims, and is just about immortal. In some iterations, he is tremendous sturdy, too, and has different powers like telepathy and the flexibility to manage others’ feelings. In different phrases, he is terrifying.
If James Gunn is riffing on the Salvation Run plotline (and this appears very doubtless based mostly on the jail planet’s identify in Peacemaker), then it appears logical that he may very well be organising DeSaad because the DCU’s subsequent huge dangerous. This will surely be a scary sufficient menace to get Superman and Lex Luthor working collectively on the identical workforce in opposition to a better menace — particularly if Lex feels dangerous for developing with the concept of a multiversal jail within the first place.
To be clear, we’re taking some huge speculative leaps right here, however based mostly on the ending of Peacemaker season 2, DeSaad simply jumped means up within the rankings for Man of Tomorrow‘s primary villain. And as an added bonus, he might act as an appetizer for Darkseid himself as soon as Gunn will get round to creating his personal Justice League film.
Fortunately, we cannot have to attend an excessive amount of longer to search out out for certain. Man of Tomorrow is predicted to start out filming in April of 2026.
